


Stranger Things Ficlets

by yukiawison



Series: Ficlet Collections [5]
Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: F/F, Ficlets, Gen, M/M, oneshots
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-12-02
Updated: 2019-01-13
Packaged: 2019-02-09 17:44:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 2,804
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12893379
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yukiawison/pseuds/yukiawison
Summary: Stranger Things ficlets from tumblr.(1-3 from fic-vember 2k17)(4 from ficvember 2018)(mostly byeler)





	1. Looking Out

**Author's Note:**

> (Byeler with side elmax)

“Alright, we’ve got popcorn, Twizzlers, Reese’s Pieces, nachos with extra cheese, a Ring Pop for everyone, and a slushee for El because she has yet to experience the wonder that is the blue raspberry slushee,” Steve said, presenting the party with an armful of food.   
  
“Blue raspberries aren’t even real fruit. That’s why it’s so special,” Max stage whispered to the bewildered looking El beside her.  
  
Steve had offered to take them to the first drive in showing of the summer. Will was glad when Steve did these sort of things because he worried less than his mom or Jonathan. If either of them were in charge of the outing Will would feel their eyes on him all night. They meant well, and he loved them for how much they cared, but with Steve it was easier for him to feel like part of the group again.   
  
The of six them (Will, El, Max, Lucas, Dustin, and Mike) were piled in the back of Steve’s dad’s truck he’d offered up for the evening. Steve was on a lawn chair in front of them. Safe among heaps of sleeping bags and blankets, they’d grown closer together as it got darker. The movie was supposed to start in 5 minutes.   
  
“Will? Reese’s Pieces?” Mike asked, offering up the box. El was taking shocked but delighted sips of her slushee while Max’s hair bobbed up and down as she laughed. Dustin and Lucas were fighting over which Ring Pop flavor was best. And Steve was trying to keep popcorn from spilling all over the place as it was passed around. Somehow Mike Wheeler had ended up in Will’s space.  
  
“Sure, thanks,” he said after a moment of hesitation in which he sincerely hoped Mike hadn’t noticed him staring at the sleepy way his hair was tousled. Mike was tired already. Will had told him he should’ve stayed home this time since he was just coming off of a bad cold. Oddly enough, Mike was the one Steve had been mother hen-ing all night with insistence that he tell him if he needed an extra sweater or wanted to go home early.   
  
“Are you okay?” Will asked, taking the box and dumping a few of the candies into his hand.   
  
“Are you kidding?” He asked, voice a bit scratchy. “I’ve wanted to see Back to the Future all month. I’m not missing it ‘cause of some dumb cold.” He leaned closer to Will and Will tried to hide the terrific grin on his face.   
  
“Good,” he said quietly.  
  
Dustin and Lucas had come to a truce on the Ring Pop debacle (watermelon) and El was nearly finished with her slushee. The opening credits flipped on and Will could see fireflies in the trees beyond the screen.   
  
“Shush, all of you,” Steve said, as they’d all started chattering out of excitement. He glanced over at Will and met his eyes for a second. Mike’s head was on his shoulder already and Will could tell he would fall asleep before the movie was done.   
  
Steve leaned over and ruffled Will’s hair. “Look out for him for me won’t you?” He said, and winked.   
  
“Sure,” Will whispered. For once Will could be the one doing the looking out.

 

 


	2. Visit

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (Byeler)

He met him at the airport even though it wasn’t exactly convenient. Mike had the address already and could no doubt find his way, and it meant Will had to scrounge up the cash for a cab, but he couldn’t help it. He was going to see his best friend Mike Wheeler for the first time since he’d gone back to New York for his second year of art school three months ago. He missed him. And he missed the lazy warmth of summer: going to the drive in with the party, sneaking beer in the trunk and laughing, slightly buzzed, at the grainy screen, watching Mike’s smile light up in the dark, and braiding El’s hair while she and Dustin shared popcorn and Lucas or Max shushed them when they got too loud and tipsy. 

He loved school though. He loved filling canvases with the things he felt. He loved that art felt safe again. He wasn’t drawing for a monster stuck in his head. He wasn’t drawing clues. He was just drawing Mike Wheeler’s messy hair and studies of fruit bowls and cityscapes.  He loved his apartment and his roommates and the fact that no one freaked out when he had the occasional nightmare. In New York he didn’t have to hide.  

Mike looked even taller than the last time he’d seen him, somehow, if that was possible. He dropped his luggage and wrapped him in a tight hug. Will’s head was right over his heart, face pressed into the wool of sweater. He smelled like home. 

“You didn’t have to come get me,” Mike said softly. 

“I wanted to,” he replied, voice muffled in his chest. “I’m glad you’re here.”

“I’m glad I’m here too Will.”

He watched Mike gawk at the skyscrapers and masses of cars and taxies. He hadn’t left Indiana for college; he studied chemistry 2 hours from Hawkins. He’d told Will during one of their phone calls that lasted 3 hours and stretched into the time of night where they had to whisper, that he went home every other weekend to see El. The city was different. Will had spent the majority of his first semester looking up at billboards and tripping over his own feet in the subway. 

Will had cleaned the apartment in preparation for Mike’s visit. His roommates teased him for how diligently he vacuumed and did the dishes and put away all his stray charcoals and paintbrushes. 

“This is it,” he said with a nervous wave of his hand around the room. It mattered what Mike thought now the same way it did when they were kids and Will stood in front of the mirror and messed with his stupid haircut. It mattered the way it mattered when Mike told him that he and El had decided they were better off as just friends. 

“Make yourself at home,” he muttered. 

It was a three bedroom apartment with a dingy kitchenette and big windows. Their furniture was all second hand or borrowed from the Byers house and the living room was occupied by such articles as Andre’s orange ash tray, Rosemary’s stack of paperback romance novels and a framed photo of Will and the Hawkins crew on the book shelf. It was taken just after graduation. In it they were wearing graduation robes and caps and Will was looking at Mike and not the camera. 

“I like it,” Mike said sincerely, dropping his duffel bag. “You’re like a real city kid now aren’t you Byers?”

Will laughed but was interrupted by Rosemary’s louder laugh. “Will? A New Yorker? That’s the best thing I’ve heard all week.” She was already poking around in the fridge. “Is this Mike?” She asked. 

“Mike this is my roommate Rosemary. She studies dance.”

“Nice to meet you,” he said dumbly, eyeing her long dreadlocks and mess of bangles on her wrists. 

“Interpretive dance,” she clarified. “And I’m a real New Yorker so amateurs like Will can’t fool me.”

He thought Mike and Rosemary would get along. They were both stubborn and loyal and good at taking charge, but right now he was obviously intimidated and consequentially looking at her like she had two heads. 

“I’ll get out of your hair,” she said, pouring milk into her bowl of Cheerios and giving him a small salute. “See you Will.”

“You didn’t tell me you lived with a girl,” he stage whispered a moment later.

Will shrugged. It wasn’t a big deal but Mike wouldn’t know that. He led him to his room where he set down his stuff and spent ten minutes complimenting the sketches Will had taped to his wall. They were mostly of people and places around Hawkins. He’d had the sense to take down most of the Mike drawings before he got there. Otherwise it looked excessive. Mike turned red and blinked at his likeness. “It looks like me,” he said, looking down at the floor. “Not just on the outside,” he finished cryptically. 

“I thought we could get dinner?” Will said, back in the living room. “And see a play maybe?”

Mike nodded. “Whatever you think is good. I’m just happy to be with you.”

If he kept talking like that all Will’s feelings would come up his throat. 

  
At prom Mike had taken El (just as friends), Dustin had used Steve’s tips to find a date (for the evening at least), and Max and Lucas had held hands the entire night. He’d gone, even though he knew he’d be alone, to watch his dork of a best friend make a fool of himself dancing. And his flailing was funny. But it was also sad, and he left the gym to sit on the floor, against the lockers, and think about why he couldn’t just be normal. For everything Jonathan said, normal was a hell of a lot easier. When Mike found him in the hallway he’d said something about how he was happy that he came so he could see him in a crooked bow tie and just be with him on a night that was supposed to be magic. It was admissions like that that conjured such magic. 

“Well, if you want pizza we could…”

“William!” Andre slammed the door on his way in and tossed him a cardigan. “I borrowed this. Thanks,” he said, before noticing Mike.

“Oh shit, am I interrupting something? I didn’t realize you had a date tonight.”  
Will nearly had a heart attack and Mike’s eyes were the size of saucers. 

“He’s not my…Andre this is Mike, my friend from home.”

“Oh,” Andre made a face. “Sorry, my bad. Hi Mike, I’m the other roommate.  So you didn’t call back that guy from last week then?” He directed at Will. In hindsight he should’ve realized Andre’s nosiness would be an issue but it was too late now. His heard was hammering in his chest. He didn’t look at Mike. 

“I haven’t called him,” he said evenly. “The first date was kind of shitty.”

“Damn, he was cute.”

“Yeah,” Will muttered, willing the conversation to end. 

Andre shrugged. “Win some, lose some I suppose. Nice to meet you Mike.” He ducked out of the room before Mike could clear the shock from his face and respond. 

Mike had gone eerily quiet. 

“Sorry, about him,” Will said nervously. “He likes to butt in.”

Will had never outright told Mike that he was gay. He’d implied it. He’d told his mom and Jonathan, but somehow being open about it with Mike and the rest of the party seemed risky. After the Upside Down ordeals, he wasn’t looking for reasons to prolong the looks of pity they still sometimes gave him. Plus there was the fear that he’d accidentally go all the way and tell him he’d been crazy for him since middle school. 

“It’s alright,” he said at last. “But did he say that you dated other…” he cleared his throat. “Other guys?”

Will sucked in a breath. “Mike, I obviously didn’t mean to do this right now but I should probably just tell you that I’m gay. And that I’m sorry I didn’t say anything before."

"Before what?” He looked up at Mike who was running his hands through his hair now in a decidedly anxious display.  "When did you know?“

"Seventh grade I guess.”

“How?”

_You_

“I don’t know. I just knew.”

Mike shook his head aggressively. “I can’t believe this!”

“Are you mad?” The clean apartment seemed useless right now. 

“No!” He was too loud but Will didn’t mind because he’d reached out to grab his shoulders. “Of course not. You’re always going to be my best friend I just thought this would be the visit when I told you I think I like guys and girls, which seems really weird and all over the place but here we are.”

“You’re bisexual?”

“Is that what they call it?”

“How did you know?”

Mike grinned, glancing around at the apartment and crossing his arms over his chest. Will felt self-conscious about every bit of preparation he’d done. Sometimes you just couldn’t prepare for Mike Wheeler.

“You,” he said. 


	3. Take Care

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (Byeler)

The fourth time Mike tried to stand up, Will eased him back into the bed and persisted in his mission to take care of him for the day.   
  
It was almost comical that after all they’d fought and defeated that Mike Wheeler could be incapacitated by the flu. Will had forced him to call in sick to work when his fever hit 103 and he started deliriously dishing out thank yous when Will did so much as sneeze. Now he’d managed to get Mike to watch Star Wars, hoping he’d wear himself out in the process and stop trying to get out of bed to help with things.   
  
“Let me get the dishes!” He whined, voice scratchy from coughing. “I’m the one who,” he sniffed. “I’m the one who caused the mess.”  
  
Will laughed at him from the kitchen. His boyfriend was bundled in a heap of Will’s quilts and surrounded by pillows. He was still shivering and white as a sheet, but his hair was mussed and his eyes were tired but sharp like usual. He struggled with the blanket for a moment but then gave up.  
  
“I’m supposed to take care of you Byers,” he grumbled, eyelids drooping.   
  
“Nice try Wheeler but you know better than that.”  
  
Mike laughed, loud and scratchy and light the way it was when he’d asked him to save him a dance at the Snow Ball years ago.   
  
“My hero Will Byers,” Mike said dreamily. “Imagine that.”


	4. For Granted

Mike Wheeler wasn’t in the habit of taking things for granted anymore: weekends in the basement, trying out a new campaign with the party or watching movies rented from the video store where Will worked now.

Will, in particular wasn’t someone Mike took for granted. He’d nearly lost him too many times. He saved every drawing Will gave him and every smile from across the room when everyone else was distracted or arguing. He saved the feeling of Will’s shoulder pressed to his all afternoon on a hay bale ride that October. The hay had smelled earthy and Will had been so warm beside him.

Now it was snowing. Mike biked to the video store anyway because he told Will he’d meet him and he’d been looking forward to it all day. The cold made his face flush. He breathed in the chilly air and peddled furiously, like when they were younger and needed to get everywhere fast.

“Mike, you’re here,” Will said, once Mike had shaken the snow off of his shoulders and wiped his boots on the carpet. He glanced around the shop. Will was the only one working. “It looks pretty bad out there.” His expression was clouded with worry and for a moment Mike felt guilty.

“It’s not too bad,” he said. “Slow day?”

Will leaned his elbows on the counter and sighed exaggeratedly. “The store’s been empty for hours. I even got bored of drawing and started walking around guessing the plots of movies based on their titles.”

Mike laughed. “That sounds like a game show.”

Will grinned. Mike had been happy when he’d gotten the job here. He was saving his paychecks for art school.

“Are you ready to close up?”

Will nodded. “I’ll get my coat. I’ve got my car so you can throw your bike in the trunk.”

The snow still hadn’t let up when they stepped outside. Mike glanced over at Will. He worried sometimes, about the winter. The cold brought up memories of the Upside Down, memories that made his jaw tighten and heart pound. And he hadn’t been the one trapped there.

“We should let the car warm up before we go anywhere,” Will said, once they’d met the sanctuary of the car. The windshield was clouded and icy.

“Okay, Mike said, shifting in his seat. The moment stretched.

“Hey,” Will said.

“Yeah?”

“Why do you come meet me after work so often? No one else does.”

Mike’s fingertips tingled. It was the same reason he gave Will half of his fries in the cafeteria and the best controller for games.

“I…um I guess I like spending time with you alone. To, you know, make up for time I missed.”

“Time you missed?” Will repeated, confused.

“When you were gone,” he muttered.

“That was years ago, Mike.”

“I know.”

Will sucked in a breath. They both watched his windshield wipers make their best effort at the snow.

“Thanks,” Will said at last.

“Of course.”


End file.
